Everyone wants to live in a small town, until you actually live there and realize it kind of sucks. I spent 18 years of my life in a relatively small place. I had a countdown on my phone that started the day I got accepted into an out of state school. I always thought that I would end up in a rural area. Just not the one I was born and raised in. Then I spent time in a metropolitan area. I fell in love and well, it made me realize all the down falls of being in such a small town.
I was so limited and I didn't even know it. There are very few opportunities for internships and if there are, they're competitive. That's all for a select few majors. If you don't want one of those you have to leave.
Sure, small towns can be great. But here's five reasons why they also aren't the greatest.
1. There's nothing to do.
In high school, you either drank or hung out at home on the weekends. Sometimes you would hang out at Walmart and harass the employees at midnight. I'm in college and we still sometimes do that. Now that we're over 21, most of our nights are spent at the bar. It's nice to socialize but at the same time, it gets expensive. And kind of boring.
2. Everyone knows your business.
Everyone knew if you were pregnant, even before you announced it. Rumors are started because someone takes one piece of information and twists it into something horrible. Who you may or may not be sleeping with is everyone's knowledge. Not that anyone should care. It's a small pond, there's going to be sharing. It happens.
3. It's a church pew or bar stool kind of town.
I never realized this until I actually heard Jason Aldean's song. You either never did anything wrong or you're at the bar all the time. Both can be okay, but some people take it to the extremes.
4. Everyone is probably racist.
I don't know if this is on purpose or if it's just because the diversity consists of Germans, Norwegians, and French. Not many other ethnicities besides Native Americans depending on where in the United States you are.
5. You can't wait to get out.
I knew exactly how many days I had until I would be going to college at any given time. My town was toxic for me. It still is, honestly.
6. You either never leave or leave and never come back.
Unfortunately, I've had to come back a couple times. It wasn't my first choice, and never will be, but I'm working towards leaving. I don't think I'll ever come back for more than a couple of weeks at a time. But that's just me.
Of course, I'm not hating on small towns. I'm sure some of them are great. But I've realized that my dreams are bigger than what my hometown can give me and that's okay.
